An examination of aspects of Unidentified Aerial Phenomena (UAP) from a scientific perspective.

Friday, June 9, 2017

An Australian witness to a 1926 sighting in the UK

I was re-reading a set of hand written notes by US researcher James E McDonald, which he wrote while in Australia in 1967. This material was obtained many years ago when a group of US researchers, including Dr Michael Swords, reviewed the McDonald collection at the University of Arizona.

Some of the notes were made at the same time that McDonald was interviewing witnesses to selected Australian sightings.

One of the sightings documented was from the UK in 1926! I thought it would be of interest to provide the details which McDonald recorded. McDonald's handwriting is very difficult to read at times, so in the following text, the use of (-) indicates that a word is illegible to me.

'Was age 15 in Scotland. One (-) but permission to a charity concert at Scremerston, Northumberland. Home was in Berwick on Tweed.

Winter 1926. East Coast Scotland. Lived at sea level. Had to take a road from home and little traffic. Came down from (-). 4 - 2 boys and 2 girls. Talking and laughing. Suddenly a terrific swoosh. All (-) cowered. Road had a high hedge (-). 12-15 ft high. Object swooped over hedge and over to field. All was cowering. Noise was (-) (-). Brilliant red and blue white. (-) glow. (-). Banding of colors. Swept over it +50ft. Went too fast to see shape but feels it was possibly round.

(-) (-) near to village, into homes. She (-) into houses, told by parents it was a falling star. Next AM, all decided if it was a falling star, must be in field. But when checked found nothing, so decided to forget it.

Three zones of color. White in middle, red on top, blue at bottom. She recalls saying to aunt it was colored just like the red-white-blue lifeboats at (-) station.

Hedges were ca. 25 ft apart. Object must have been 20 to 25 ft diam. It did not get down onto the roadway. Came d. a bit. Subtended ca. 20 degree angle. She (-) over.

Girl was Edith Ward (now Mrs Bruce.) Boy was Athol Whitfield (killed in war), John Brown also killed in war.'